Lincolnshire Police pay out six figure sum for translation services

Lincolnshire Police paid out over a third of a million pounds on interpretation costs in a single year according to new figures.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request shows that during 2012/2013 Lincolnshire Police spent £373,958 for translation services for over 30 languages.

Languages Included Tagalog, a Filipino language, and Tigrinya which is spoken in the Horn of Africa.

It follows the FOI request by the Conservative Candidate for Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Marc Jones.

A request by Mr Jones for further information on the costs of the last two years was rejected by Lincolnshire Police.

Marc Jones said: “Nearly a third of million pounds is a lot of money for Lincolnshire Police to spend on translation especially when there are more pressing needs.

“Add this to the thousands squandered by the current Police and Crime Commissioner’s on the unnecessary removal of our Chief Constable and you see the waste just getting bigger.

“It is a shame that not more energy and resources could not have been devoted to tackling the steep rise in sexual crime and the persistence of rural crime.”

The force now outsources the translation service to private company G4S.

Deputy Chief Constable Heather Roach said, “The population of the Lincolnshire Police area has become increasingly diverse over the last few years. It follows that the number of contacts that the force has with residents and visitors who cannot speak English or who have a limited grasp of the language has increased accordingly.

“It is very important that we are able to communicate with victims, witnesses and offenders as well as with people who have problems and concerns that we need to address.

“The cost of translation services is unavoidable as we must provide access to our policing service for everyone in the county. We constantly review these costs and seek the best value for money services from different providers. Currently we believe that our arrangements with G4S offer the best solution to our responsibilities in this area.”